Will Huffman tries his hand with a paintbrush while Zachary Herrmann waits his turn during the Grant neighborhood mural painting on Sunday, July 3 (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Neighbors gathered over Fourth of July weekend to paint Salem’s first street mural under a new city program.
The cherry blossom design came from artist Erika Baker, who wanted to have the iconic symbol of spring in Salem last a little longer.
The mural used three colors of paint. It took 30 gallons of specially textured paint to do the mural at an approximate cost of $1,000. Miller Paint helped defray the cost by donating some of the paint.
Muralist Erika Baker applies paint to a large street mural at the intersection of Northeast Belmonts and Cottage streets on Sunday, July 3. Baker created the design for the neighborhood project, the first of its kind in Salem. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Alice Herrmann participates in the creation of a giant street mural in the Grant neighborhood on Sunday, July 3 (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Spectators watch the creation of a giant street mural in the Grant neighborhood on Sunday, July 3 (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A volunteer painter adds paint to a street mural on Sunday, July 3 (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Belmont and Cottage Streets were blocked off over the Fourth of July weekend so neighborhood painters could create a giant street mural. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A volunteer painter adds paint to a street mural on Sunday, July 3 (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
The finished mural at the intersection of Northeast Belmont and Cottage streets. (Courtesy/Paul Tigan)
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Photographer Ron Cooper and his wife Penny moved to Salem in 1969 to take a job as photographer at the Oregon Statesman (later the Statesman Journal). Their three children, Monica, Kimberly, and Christopher, attended and graduated from Salem public schools. Cooper retired from the Statesman Journal in 2001 but, has continued his passion for photography in many ways, including as a photographer for the Salem Reporter.